Camp Pendleton flu shots to start in mid-month

CAMP PENDLETON -- Military families, reservists and retirees
will be able to get the annual influenza inoculations in
mid-November, Navy medical officials said.

The Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital will begin inoculating
high-risk people Saturday and Sunday, and all other military
medical beneficiaries starting Nov. 19, said Kimberly D. Prato, a
hospital spokeswoman.

Priority will be given to anyone at the highest risk of
contracting the flu. "We've personally called every high-risk
patient in our database," Prato said Thursday.

Operational military forces and hospital workers are considered
high-risk, along with anyone age 65 or older with long-term health
problems or weakened immune systems; residents of long-term care
facilities with patients suffering from chronic medical conditions;
pregnant women in their second or third trimester; and children age
6 months to 18 years old receiving long-term aspirin treatment.

Growing fears of anthrax attacks and exposure have prompted Navy
officials to order more vaccines since more beneficiaries will want
to be inoculated, Prato said. "We're hearing a lot more about it,"
she said. "I've been handling a lot of call about the shots."

By getting the flu vaccines, health officials say, fewer people
who do get sick would think they have contracted anthrax, a disease
that has similar early symptoms.

Military beneficiaries should contact or go to their regular
assigned clinic for the vaccines. Prato can be reached at (760)
725-1271, or check the hospital's Web site at
http://www.cpen.med.navy.mil/ for more information.